1950 Cyclocross Race.mp4

No carbon fibre or shiny lycra here boys. Theses dudes are tuff... Check out www.whatsoninsl... for more classic cycling videos

[@anthonyclay4962]

The guy doing the commentary is Bill Baty, a top rider from the late 50's early 60's. He was National Road Race Champion in 1958 and 1959. He won 2 Stages of The 'Milk Race' Tour of Britain, and was 15th Overall in 1958. I rode 'Club Runs' with him in 1979/80 (I was 19/20 years old and he was 45/46) and he was as entertaining as he is in this clip! I started out in the same club as Wes Clayton, Tyne Road Club, in 1976. He was a very talented and versatile rider who rode everything from 10 mile Time Trials to 24 hour Time Trials. He, along with his brother Dennis, was in the winning Team in the National 24 Hour Time Trial Championship four times, 1969-1973, with a Personal Best of 473 miles. He also rode the 1959 'Milk Race' Tour of Britain.

[@fulhamrobadob]

Superb in every way. Full of admiration for the competitors and a classic commentary e.g. as a cyclist falls face first into the stream...."I think he's thirsty!"

[@TheSlomo2009]

@killdownie That is correct, which means the commentary was added to the old 8 mm in 1994. At one point toward the end of the video he says the race was in 1960. These are hard men and it really shows you how the mounting/dismount techniques have improved.

[@mkcal17]

"That's not the proper riving crossing, someone had moved the arrows... your's truly" haha, best quote!

[@LazerSparks]

Brilliant, an absolute gem. I don't know what I like the most, the great footage or the commentary.

[@ChainLineCycle]

Love the video. For some reason we were laughing our heads off at the river crossing... the way they threw their bikes !!!

[@fredbrowning1993]

Can recall a few river/stream crossings in our local Midlands area cross races in 60s,one i can recall nr Earlswood Warwickshire as a 16 year old,my older team mate told me just race through it!,so i did every lap thinking i might hit a brick or something halfway across!,i even got a mention in our weekly papers race report written by no other than BCCA president Keith Edwards who was a cyclo cross stalwart and did reports for the Birmingham Planet Weekly.

[@grahamtv21]

The straight handlebar bike is likely to be what was known as a 'Tracker' bike. These usually homemade bikes, were quite popular with British teenagers, during the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, who were inspired to make them in order to emulate TV motorbike scrambling. 'Tracker Bike' making and riding took place all over the UK however many local 'Tracker' bike riders often thought that these scrambling bicycles only existed in their particular city, town or village. Though 'Tracker' was their most common name, they were also known by a variety of other 'local' names. To make a 'Tracker' bicycle you would take an old frame and add cycle speedway tyres, lowered gearing, maybe an SA 3 speed hub and cow-horn handlebars. Some manufactured versions also existed and they were usually modified cycle speedway bikes fitted with brakes and sometimes mudguards. In 1981, Raleigh made a fat tyred 26" wheeled version of a 'Tracker' bike that they called the 'Bomber'. However, the arrival of better equipped American style 'mountain bikes' in the mid 1980s meant the end of the long lived British 'Tracker Bike' tradition.

[@hondated]

Absolutely great thanks for posting.Theres me worried to take my Roberts Tourer off on to trails and perhaps seeing this I will not be now as worried about doing that given the terrain these fellas rode over.Being born in 1951 and living on a large council estate in the south east I have often wondered why cycling in the area at this level was more of a " middle class" sport and yet that was far from the case further north.

[@mikethebike709]

Cool stuff...and how hard it was with these "cyclo coss" bikes ... wow!!

[@popeye2cv]

@bigwaters1 and we are eager to see them I just wish we still had races like this, a real cross country course with bikes as Cyclocross was and should be

[@tillytarbox]

@VersaceRIP Well they used to toss their bikes in the Lake at GP Mercer. But that was AFTER the race. I remember my hubby pulled a worm out of his derailleur one year at Mercer Mud Fest. I agree that the River Toss should be brought back in to the sport. Also Love the LeMond start!

[@neilwheel]

Priceless! NB, commentary mentions film was shot in 'the early '60's'. (4:38)

[@ricadus]

Nice frosty winter landscape in the background @ 4:25

[@asdfghjkfdsa]

this video rules, thanks for uploading! today's 'cross courses should have rivers to ford and 12-40 year olds in the field.

[@cyclingwatercolours]

Great commentary by North East's Bill Baty....brilliant

[@PulpoSoft]

Besides of been a great graphic record, shows the early stages of ciclo-x. In the other hand.... steel frames, mud, single speed, a brutal amount of balls, legs and will.

[@ezequielc11]

There's a reference at 4:17 of a Tyneside Vagabonds rider, which I used to be a member of but as I am in my early 40's now I don't recognise the guy andf wasn't born when this race took place. The race took place around Scots Gap and Bolam as the comentary suggests which is approximately 10 miles north of Newcastle in Northumberland. If anyone recognises anyone please let me know. Thanks Carl

[@risenflame]

This is the best cycling video on youtube. hahaha

[@dhvoorhees]

This is great. Cyclocross at it's best.

[@mike_lowndes]

You can hear the projector in the background - they are watching a projected film, commenting on it while its being videoed. "..in the 1990''s but these races were held in the 1960s" about 8 mins in.

[@glennoc8585]

No winter warmers on with these fellas. Many of these guys would be very old now.

[@ccspir2]

No carbon, no lycra and ONE GEAR! These guys were tough!

[@breadbutt]

you sure it's 1950? at 7:51 he say's that these races where held in the early 60's and that this one was held in 1960

[@433kurtz]

They look so happy at the finish!

[@howdyitsdavid]

One of the coolest things ever. Hard men.

[@kixigvak]

Looks like cross in Portland Oregon in the 60s. Fixed gear bikes, unrideable terrain, and plenty of water. In fact, I remember swimming with my bike once. Wool shorts and jerseys, too.

[@sknnmalink]

The commentator is very probably the gent from the Taylor Brothers BBC Documentary who mentions that he took part in the World Championships before going into the forces at the start of the war and tells a funny story of how he first saw a Taylor bike although he wanted to buy a "Hobbs of Barbican".

[@davidmam]

@Thumbshifter I think they are the old 'hairnet' type helmets. Definitely a long way pre polystyrene.

[@AirborneBicycles]

Steel Bikes & Iron Men. No wonder the English called it "Rough Stuff." I can think of places here in the States where we could build a course like this.

[@Herera59]

Fantastic! Cycle Cross as it is mean to be.

[@asdfghjkfdsa]

@dlcfuk I think he is saying that; could easily have dubbed his narration/commentary in 1994 over the footage. Also soon after that, around 4:33, he mentions "the first of the mountain bikes" in "the early 60s" ... so my guess is that the commentary is from the 90s and title of this video should be something like 1960 Cyclocross Race.mp4

[@samj1185]

looks like they all had 11-21 cogs? believe I saw at least one guy w/ a single speed! Whoof.

[@_Bryant.R]

Best stream crossing ever at 1:56

[@bushwalker53]

This is a short tutorial on how to ruin your bearings in under 9 minutes. Haha, great to see the sport back in the old days. They certainly had a tough course!

[@epicyclo6323]

The bearings weren't sealed. All we had to do was dribble some oil through the bearings after the race and give the wheels etc a spin, and all the rubbish would come out. Also most folk had a big hole in the bottom of the bottom bracket to drain any water in the frame. BTW count the fixies. :)

[@25inspector]

You had to be a good runner and cyclist back then.

[@Thumbshifter]

1950s? That looks like an early mountain bike at 3mins - and a couple of the guys have polystyrene helmets. He says 'Early 60s' at 4min30 or so. Great footage though - bring back that course! :-)

[@fahrradrasse]

this is fascinating and commentary is a bonus; throw bike in water and jump in after; one dude throws bike almost across; seniors...up to 40 (nice that we're pushing that senior mark out further and further); wonder how cheating was handled - shortcuts were taken it says

[@maikerumine]

Solid! Thanks for posting!

[@desmetjm]

Great. More of that. I liked it.

[@MundobikesCl]

Really a cycling heroes ...

[@GermFreeFusion]

@Olson50 According to the commentary, this race was open to juniors...

[@duringthemeanwhilst]

more like a triathlon!!

[@singlespeeds]

Hard to the core!!!

[@quirpy]

Great piece of film, but did I see a '66 black Ford Anglia in there at 7:26 and a '62 Rover at 6:05 ?

[@ZeeFrenchie]

Brilliant!

[@hannsstuck]

Perfect. Echte Mannen.

[@danfuerthgillis4483]

Lmfao now this is real racing none of this light weight bike crap.

[@jimbonorth1]

Yes, Yes, yes this is it, proper cross, no stupid Health and safety rubbish just riders doing it under their own steam knowing the risks and accepting them. So who fancies organising one?

[@mochannel25]

I would.

[@ilanpi]

I wonder if this is the race Jacquie Phelan won (in the men's division).

[@rediryou]

Makes me laugh when I hear roadies today complain that courses are too technical hahahaha :)

[@gusbus282828]

some of those look like fixed gears. look at the pedals at 6:30.

[@duncr]

Rock Hard

[@nickthebike]

In the days before sealed bearings!!!!

[@jimbonorth1]

It appears that I fancy organising one similar - who's man enough? Watch out for more info on the barnesbury cc website

[@7777777gary]

ya that was halarious! does anyone no where this was?

[@hernan4094]

🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@claireyeoman8247]

This isn't in Scotland. It is in rural northumberland at middleton, near morpeth.

[@epicyclo6323]

Yes, it looks too easy to be Scotland. :)

[@MTBIKEXC]

Awesome!

[@roadiesean]

The kidney transplant was mentioned as having happened in 1993, so they must have added the commentary later. According to Google, Wes Clayton died in 2009. RIP Wes, your ghost must be biking o'er t'moors !

[@SiemEikelenboom]

I suggest we rip the asphalt off all cycle tracks !!! This is how cycling should be done ("most of it is runnin")

[@tillytarbox]

bad ass!

[@AngryNotSoOldHippy]

:) This is neat stuff!

[@engeng1234]

That does it... I'll go Single Speed.

[@Kevin3NF]

greatness :)

[@t4texas]

The commentator states, around the 4 minute mark, that one of the racers had a kidney transplant "last year, that would be 1993."

[@leroy8441]

yeh 1994 is when they rewatched the video

[@panzerveps]

Camera technology was pretty bad in 1993.

[@mikeoconnor8035]

that reminds me of a couple of races in Baton Rouge, that shit sucked!

[@LVPHOTOG]

I would like to know more about this video, more to the point, who holds the copyright to it. I would love to be able to use roughly 1:20 of the video.

[@Tafodybleddyn]

This isn't 1950s with bikes like that or clothes like that.

[@MoutinhoNuno]

Risers detected at 2:59.

[@syderwarp]

LMFOA!!!!!!! =)

[@the.communist]

Can you do that with carbon bikes?

[@Lukestravelmtb]

whers the mustache??!

[@rediryou]

Does anyone know what race this was or recognize any faces?

[@texasshiznet]

It seems this sport would be easier just not have a bike to carry around.

[@tucnasam]

lol not much riding going on sweet though

[@hermanngerman8002]

That is not 1950!

[@Metal-Possum]

Last time I checked, 1950 wasn't in colour.

[@shreded7]

#messlife

[@gabep04]

I just don't see the excitement here....